I celebrated the 10th anniversary of my release from a New York prison in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. I was there to participate in The Year of Return, a countrywide commemoration of the 400 years since the first Africans were trafficked to the British colony now...

In 1999, when I was 19 years old, I was arrested and charged with first degree murder, several counts of attempted murder, attempted robbery, and several counts of criminal use of a weapon. I was convicted of first degree assault and third degree weapons possession, an...

My brother, Kiese Laymon, is the dopest writer in the game. He likes Andre 3000 more that I like, and I like the Wu more than he does. I’m a Brooklyn dude who is biased to NYC boom bap style rap music. He’s a Mississippi guy who doesn’t concede to the braggadocio of us...

AUTHORITIES are at their wits end, it seems, as wanton violence siphons the lifeblood of nations. Indeed, the endemic nature of violence continues to spur international debates as few nations are spared this social scour...

In December 2008, as I was starting the final year of a 12-year sentence in a New York state prison, the African American Organization, led by prisoners in Otisville Correctional Facility, put together its annual Kwanzaa celebration. During the seven days of Kwanzaa me...